The new publishing platform, called Kindle Worlds, retrieves the licenses needed from rights holders so that fan fiction writers can publish their stories and receive royalties as their work sells on Amazon.

Amazon said it has already received licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division for its book series Gossip Girl, by Cecily vonZiegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith. It plans to announce more licenses soon.

With this authorization, writers can create fan fiction stories about any of the above-mentioned books. From there, the stories are sold on Amazon and the writers receive royalties.

The royalty rate for writers with 10,000+ word stories will be 35 percent of net revenue, and Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of sales price. For short stories of 5,000-10,000 words, Amazon will pay the royalties for the World’s rights holder and pay authors a digital royalty of 20 precent. Royalties will be paid monthly.

While the writer clearly benefits with the necessary licenses needed and royalties, the rights holders could also benefit through this new way of monetizing their franchises. They can also work with Amazon to set guidelines for writers and open their franchises to new audiences.

“At Kindle, we’re not only inventing on the hardware and software side of the business, we’re inventing new ways to create books,” said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. “Our goal with Kindle Worlds is to create a home for authors to build on the Worlds we license, and give readers more stories from the Worlds they enjoy. We look forward to announcing additional World licensing deals in the coming weeks.”

Amazon is always looking to up the competition with added content and even low hardware prices. In March, Amazon cut the price of its 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet from the $299 launch price to $269 for the Wi-Fi version and $499 to $399 for the 4G version.